The Reel Review
Cher, Olympia Dukakis and Nicholas Cage star in this Oscar-winning 1987 romantic comedy about a widowed Italian-American bookkeeper in Brooklyn who falls in love with the brother of a doltish fool whom she only recently had agreed to marry.
What makes director Norman Jewison’s endearing film work so well is its immensely relatable and charming ensemble cast. You can almost smell the marinara sauce and red wine. As the star, Cher, of course is a standout, but it is Olympia Dukakis, as her smart-mouthed mother obsessed with finding out why men stray in relationships, who provides the heart of this film. (Both actresses, along with screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, won Oscars for Moonstruck.)
The mind-spinningly fast affair between Cher and Cage’s characters may strain the bounds of believability and Cage’s absurdly melodramatic performance is (unintentionally?) hysterical. But where Moonstruck is at its best is the subtle and often hilarious interactions among its ensemble cast – a sideways glance, a gentle touch, a smile – all of it really makes the film sparkle. Jewison and Shanley masterfully capture the intricate beauty of complex relationships growing old together. Moonstruck is a timeless classic.
REEL FACTS
• John Patrick Shanley says he had Sally Field in mind to play Loretta when he wrote the screenplay for Moonstruck.
• Casting director Howard Feuer said when Anne Bancroft and Maureen Stapleton were too expensive for the role of Cher’s mother, he called up character actress Olympia Dukakis, who read for director Norman Jewison and was hired on the spot.
• John Mahoney says attention from his performance in Moonstruck helped him land his role on the long running hit TV series Frasier.
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